Brad Stevens Trusts Jayson Tatum as Much as Anyone
Jayson Tatum is blowing away expectations with how much Brad Stevens trusts him
Before the season started, there was a lot of speculation about how NBA ready Jayson Tatum would be. Most acknowledged that his offensive skill set was good enough to score some points, but the defense and awareness was a big question. Right now, Tatum has become one of the most trusted players on the roster, and there really is no area of concern.
Brad Stevens has always shown a willingness to give rookies minutes, but they always had to earn it. Last season, it was not until the playoffs that Jaylen Brown was able to get a consistent role, and even disappeared out of the rotation for stretches.
With Tatum, there was no transition. He was immediately needed to take on a bigger role than expected when Gordon Hayward went down, and Stevens immediately had all the trust in the world. Tatum has been essential on both ends, and Stevens wants him out there for the most important minutes.
In fact, Tatum is second to only Kyrie Irving when it comes to clutch importance. Stevens has trusted him on multiple occasions to play all 12 minutes in the fourth, and Tatum never makes any mistakes that hurt the team when it matters most.
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Tatum is not going out there and creating the way Irving does, or making the spectacular plays that Marcus Smart does, but Stevens has confidence that he will make the right play each and every time. He shoots out of his mind in the fourth quarter, because he never takes a bad shot and is never scared of the moment.
On defense, he handles every and any assignment given to him, and he makes a difference with his length. He is as sound as anyone, and is the last person that would disrupt anything his teammates are trying to do. On top of that, he is serious enough of a threat that defenses have to respect him, opening up more for his teammates.
Tatum is one of the few players playing over 30 minutes per game this season, and that should be impossible for a 19 year old on a title contending team.
Tatum is subverting every and any expectation you should have for rookies, and it really should only get better. Tatum has established the trust, so his role is not going to diminish. With the remarkable efficiency he plays with, the most likely change would be him getting more volume, and having even more of an impact.
Tatum is not taking over games, and has a tendency to disappear sometimes. What is important, however, is that he is only doing what Stevens asks of him, and he is doing every single thing Stevens wants. He never over steps his role, and Stevens knows that he will give him exactly what he wants, nothing more and nothing less.
Tatum sped up the process faster than anyone could have expected, but he still has so much developing to do, and that should absolutely terrify the rest of the league. Tatum continues to push the boundaries of what the Celtics can get out of him, and he is going to continue to be one of the most important and trusted players on the team.
It is becoming a lot more clear why Stevens was so infatuated with Tatum coming into the draft. The Celtics followed him for years before he was even in college, and a lot of people doubted the Celtics when they said Tatum was their number one player in the draft.
Right now, Tatum has validated all the belief the Celtics put into him, and Tatum is looking like the ideal Stevens prospect. Who knows what Tatum will eventually become, and who knows what he will be doing by the end of this season.
What we do know is that there may never have been a 19 year old rookie like Tatum before, and when Stevens puts this much trust into him, you better expect something special.